54 GENETICS [Bot. Absts., Vol. V, 



Affected females mated to normal males should produce in equal numbers both normal and 

 affected sons and daughters while affected males mated to normal females should produce 

 only normal sons and affected daughters. The incidence of several diseases of man, including 

 Basedow's, approximate the expectations for dominant sex-linked traits. That they are such 

 can not be stated with assurance till further data shall have been accumulated. It is the 

 purpose of this paper to point out the possibility of dominant sex-linked traits and to indicate 

 their expected mode of inheritance. — C. H. Danforth. 



410. Lillie, Frank Rattray. Problems of fertilization. 13X 19 cm.,xii-\-27S p., 19 fig. 

 Univ. Chicago Press: Chicago, 1919. — Author distinguishes two phases of fertilization, re- 

 juvenescence, and combination of inheritance from two parents. Latter is only feature com- 

 mon to all cases of fertilization. Morphology of fertilization is described. Chromosome equiv- 

 alence of egg and sperm is emphasized. Origin of centrosome in fertilized egg is regarded as 

 physiological rather than morphological. There is no evidence that mitochrondria of sperm 

 have any function in heredity. Pathological polyspermy strongly supports nuclear theory 

 of heredity. — Behavior of sperm under various circumstances is described, especially in 

 response to chemical stimuli, including those originating in egg. Agglutination of sperm is 

 due to substance in sperm, which is specific in its action. Approach of sperm to egg is not 

 due solely to random activity, nor to chemotactic orientation alone, but to combination of 

 different types of behavior. Gametes must both be in definite condition before fertilization 

 may occur, and that condition lasts variable time in different species. Sperm owes its power 

 of fertilization to a substance, not to its motility, and this substance may also be responsible 

 for agglutination. Egg also owes fertilization capacity to hypothetical substance (fertilizin). 

 Fertilization is accompanied by increase in rate of oxidation, changes in permeability, changes 

 in colloidal condition, and chemical alterations. Fertilization involves long series of events, 

 some cortical, some internal, and process may be arrested in middle, making fertilization 

 partial. Such incomplete activation of egg results sooner or later in arrest of develop- 

 ment. — Tissue specificity in fertilization is demonstrated when spermatozoa fail to enter 

 accessible cells other than ova. Species specificity is shown by hybrid fertilization in echino- 

 derms, teleosts, and Amphibia, and by self-fertilization in various animals. Such hybridiza- 

 tion experiments demonstrate some non-specific and some specific factors. Latter are found 

 in cortical reactions of egg. If cortical barrier is passed by foreign sperm, fertilization pro- 

 ceeds normally. In plants, sterility is due to inhibition of growth of pollen tube, not to 

 incompatibility of gametes, and in some cases sterility factors are known to be inherited. Spec- 

 ificity is doubtless due to chemical phenomenon, problem related to agglutination of sperms. 

 Analogy with immunity reaction is pointed out, but with warning that these phenomena may 

 be fundamentally unlike. — Activation involves two phases, cortical and internal. Agglutina- 

 tion of sperm to egg is first step in cortical phase, and is due to agglutinating substance (fer- 

 tilizin). This substance is combined on entrance of one sperm, and egg does not react to other 

 sperms. Author criticises Loeb's view that activation of egg is due to cortical cytolysis; 

 discusses increase of oxidation, also gelation and liquefaction of cortical protoplasm, and elec- 

 trical polarization. Internal phase of activation mainly relates to preparation for karyo- 

 kinesis. — A. Franklin Shull. 



411. Ltjndborg, H. Befolkningsstudier i Norrbotten och nordliga Lappland sarskildt 

 inagra f jallbyar av Tome sjo. [The structure of population in Norrbotten and in the northeast 

 part of Lappland, specially in some mountain villages near Lake Torne.] Ord och Bild [Stock- 

 holm] 28: 641-648. 11 fig. 1919. — Author describes how the Lapponians are going over to 

 settle in houses and the social and race biological consequences of this change. Crossings 

 between Swedes, Finlanders and Lapponians are not uncommon. The lowest and poorest 

 part of the population includes as a rule Lapponians and half-blood Lapponians; the middle 

 part are Finlanders; the upper portion consists of Swedes or Swede Finlanders. The younger 

 a village is and the more westward up to the mountain it is situated, the more the Lapponians 

 or Lapponian Finlandian elements dominate. The reason for this difference in the structure 

 of population depends undoubtedly upon the race inequalities or differences in cultural quali- 

 fication of the tribes in question. — K. V . Ossian Dahlgren. 



